Combination turbine motor and muffler.



PATENTED MAR. 26, 1907.

y W. RUFF. COMBINATION TURBINE MOTOR AND MUFFLER.

APPLICATION II LBD SEPT. 14, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS No 848,127. PATENTED MAR. 26, 1907. V W. RUFF. COMBINATION TURBINE MOTOR AND MUFFLER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

$70M Fla ,3 Br (i zen of the United StatesQresiding UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM RUFF, OF NEW :YORK, N. Y.

COMB'INATION TURBINE moron ANDMUFFLER.

Specification of, Letters Patent. p e ted March 26,1907.

in nnnun'n filed September 14,1906. Serial No. 334.671; v

.To all whom it may concern. v

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM RUFF, a citiat New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combination Tur- ,1

exhaust-[pipe for the purpose of raising steam.

and app y a mixture of such steam and ex haust-gases as a pressure fluid on a reversible expansion turbine-motor, which. is inclosed within the muflier-casing, a further object being to provide in combination herewith an eilicient mufller for the exhaust-gaseso fa pressure-fluid engine to which my invention is applied; and with these and other objects in view the invention consists in a combined turbine motor and muflier constructed as hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of 'which the "accompanying drawings form apart, in which the separate parts of my improvement are'designated by' suitable reference characters each of the views, and in which- Fi the line 1 1 of Fi 3. Fig. 2 is an outside end view of my evice, illustrating the reversing-gear. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view on the line 3 3 of and Fig. 4 a detail view of one of the buc ets attached to my device.-

In my invention I unite the mufliling features with a turbine set in motion by the combined action of steam and gas under pressure. The steam as an auxiliary motive power is generated within the exhaust-pipe of the pressure-fluid engine to which my evice is attached and prior to entering a series of turbine-motors, which. latter are. placed within the casing of the muflling de: vice.

The heat necessa to generate the steam is taken from the e aust-gases of the maindischarge.

re 1 is a vertical transverse section on t engine, and the steam thus generated minles with the exhaust-gases prior to entering t e mufliing device, and the mingled stea'm' j and gases are made to impinge against the blades of a turbine-motor, which latter is provided with a shaft running in bearings laced in the mufiler-casin The pressure uid thus provided is con ucted circumferentially to the blades of the turbine-motor in such manner so as to gradually expand into larger volumes, and in order to obtain a maximum of force-impelling power from the same' gradually-enlar ed conduit-s or passages and also gradua ly-enlarged impinging blade-surfaces are rovided in order to properly attain as near y aspossible a complete transformation of heatunits into power units from the gases prior to its atmospheric As illustrated in the drawings, 1 is the auxiliary shaft mounted in ball, roller, or solid bearings 2, placed in the end plates '3 of the v 4. Four sets of blades are shown ke ed or otherwise fastenedto the shaft 1, al -.of which travelin unisonlthereef with. Each of these sets ofblades are pref-.

erably composedofa centralsleeve 5, circu lar side lates 6 and 7, and bucketsS, riveted' to the si e plates 6 and 7. In shown 0 4 a detail view in V detached 3 the bucket construction, which con? j sists of a plate suitable to be bent at the dottedlines 9 into the form shown in Fig. 1 of.

the drawings and provided with rivet-holes for attachments thereto. 1

Each succeeding set ofbuckets is of double the same diametrical dimensions, whereby and in connection with the later-on'described conduits leading from one set of buckets to the next adjoining one and 'at each one-half circuit revolution means are provided for'a gradual expansion of thegases, which latter after leavin the last bucket-wheel can exhaust into t e atmosphere at 10.

The turbine-motor, as shown inthe drawings, is reversible, and the direction of the impinging gases is manipplated by means of the vanes 11 and 12, 'ch are ivoted at 13 and 14, with their'pivotal sha s extendin longitudinally throughout the casing an running in bearin s 15, placed on the outer end plates 3 of t e muflier-casing. These vanes can .be moved in'unison with each other by means of the lever 16, fastened to .the width of the preceding one, but retains the upper vane-shaft '13. A lever 17 is fastened to the lower vane-shaft'14, and a connectin rod 18 is pivoted both to the levers 16 an 17. A s ring-pawl 19 engages in I notches 20 21 in t e guide-rack 22, with the diameter of this casing coinciding with. the

diameter of-the bucket-wheel, as seen at 23 while the larger diameter of this casing provides the necessary spaces for the insertion of the wanes, as seen at 24.

The gases which are designed to enter the upper wheel-compartment at 25, as seen in Flg. 1, im inge against the buckets 8 of wheel 26, prope the same in the direction of the arrow, pass into the lower compartment 27 and partially expand therein, are deflected by the lower vane 12 from the conduit 28, enter the lower compartment of the wheel 29, pass upwardly into the upper compartment of thisWheel-ca'sing and are deflected by the vane 30 from the conduit 31 into the upper compartment 32 of wheel 33. The

lower vane 34 with corresponding passage 35 leads the gases into the wheel 36 and outwardly into the atmosphere at 10. Areversal of this direction and a consequent reversal of the motor is effected by the above-described reversing-gear lever 16.

At any convenient place within the exhaust-pipeleading from the main pressurefluid engine, as at 37, is introduced a water-\ spray tube 38, to which water is fed by means of pipe 39, rovided with the usual watergage 41. T e hot gases introduced into the pipe 37 will effectively turn the water into steam, thereby enabling this device to make use at this point of. part of the heat units to be supplied to the turbine-motor, as well as adding considerably to the volume of the gases to be entered therein. The watery gases thus obtained will also tend to lubricate the mechanism to some extent, as well as to guard against a burning outof the material of the turbine-motor. In order to utilize as much as possible all available heat units, I prefer to supply the spray-tube 38 with hot Water taken at any convenient place from the water-jacket of the cooling apparatus usually employed in internal-combustion engines, to which my device is applicable. The power thus obtained by means of my comined motor and muflier and transferred to its power-shaft 1 can be made use of in any desired form, such as by connecting the same to the main power-shaft, and thereby increasin its capacity and efficiency, or by an indivi ual use of t e same in attaching thereto a fly-wheel and pulley with belt connection, or by transferrin the power by direct gearing connected wit the auxiliary shaft 1.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is r 1. A combined reversible expansion turbine motor and muffling device for pressurefluid engines and operated by the exhaust from the same, having a steam-generating device placed within the exhaust-pipe of the pressure-fluid engine and whereby the comined gases thusgenerated can be introduced into a turbine-motor placed within the muffling-casing.

2. A combined reversible expansion turbine motor and muffling device for pressurefluid engines, operated by means of the exhaust fluid entering the same from the exhaust-pipe of said pressure-fluid engine and having a turbine-motor set in motion by means of the direct impact obtained from the introduced exhaust fluid, the latter being a mixture composed of steam generated by means of the heat inherent in the exhaust vided with conduits or passages within the turbine-casing whereby the impclling fluid taken from the exhaust of a pressure-fluid engine is successively brought to bear against the blades of each of the turbine-wheels and actin expansively and successively in each one o the series of wheels.

4. In a reversible expansion turbine niotor'and mufliing device, a series of circular turbine-wheels fastened to one common shaft and operatin within an elliptical casiu g and rovided with passages whereby the impeling forces from the exhaust of a pressurefluid engine is actuated successively and expansively against the blades of each turbinewheel and transferred from one wheel to the next adjoining wheel by means of said passages after the completion of a one-half circumferential circuit of the impelling-gasos in each wheel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention 1 have signed my name, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 12th day of September, 1906.

WILLIAM RUFF Witnesses:

F. A. STEWART, C. E. MULREANY. 

